Bloody Chelsea

I just had to say it. With the signings of Schevschenko and Ballack they will be too strong next season. And Man Utd still hasn't signed their new midfield boss. Damn! I was hoping that the league would even up a bit.

Discovering an S-curve shift

The first question that probably hits you in the back of the head is: what is an S-curve? To cut down a long story, an S-curve is the illustration of how an implemented technology gradually becomes more efficient until it flattens out. Then comes an S-curve shift, where a new technology rises and replaces the old one. One good example is the shift from sail ships to steam ships, and further on to motor shifts. (Thank you Rudolf Diesel!)
So why am I bothered with this during an Shipping, Trade and Finance master's degree? Well, one of the courses I'm attending at the moment is Shipping Innovation. My grade will be given on the base of a coursework, where I brainstorm and find an S-curve improvement or even better a shift. Aha, the plot thickens... My idea is that since the current propulsion system efficiency used in ships are reaching its limit, a shift in the S-curve will occur somewhere in the future. (And yes, I am raving mad)
So what will the shift be? I have of course no answer to that, but my search for alternatives have given me some fantastic new knowledge about previous hoaxes regarding perpetuum mobiles and brilliant solutions to the world's energy problems. For some strange reasons, all attempts have failed the second someone invest money in them...



I DO believe that the next energy source used for propulsion will be environmentally friendly, abundant in nature and cost efficient. Today, solar power, wind power and wave power gives us two out of three. Wallenius Wilhelmsen has developed a ship design called "Orcelle" which combines all three (along with NO ballast tanks).


The E/S Orcelle as designed

So now, the $10,000 question is: Can you beat this, Anders? Of course I can! All I need is 50 more years of research, and commercially available Fusion power will be available. All that needs to be taken care of is the 10,000,000 degree plasma cloud and the trillions of Watts needed to kick it off... :D
When people hear about nuclear fission energy today they think of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Dr. Strangelove. During the 1990s, CERN scientists created a much safer nuclear fission power, using Thorium instead of Uranium. Toss in a particle accelerator, injection of the nuclear waste back into the process and the fact that one of the countries in the world with the largest amounts of Thorium being NORWAY, and voila! The successor of oil is here...
Maria Ruggero Santilli is another interesting character. His Curriculum Vitae seems impressive at first, and his two babies Magnegas and Hydrogen Technology Applications Inc. (together with Denny Klein)seems very impressive. That is if you don't understand the high tech chemistry mumbo jumbo. If you do, several of his claims are, to say it nicely, dubious. His findings are discussed critically here, here and not to mention here. Especially the last one has some quite obscure comments by a "Joe Kelley". And as a final warning to those of you who STILL want to invest in some magic free energy invention, here is a link to make you think again.
Now to something completely different. Tonight, Harald and myself went to Angel and saw X-Men 3. Just like MI:3 it provided action and costly special effects. Braindead fun for a Sunday evening, just perfect.
Now, after supplying you all with some crazy reading on Bank Holiday, I quietly retire for the night. I of course would like to hear from you different ship propulsion solutions for the future. (And I especially want you, Karl Kristian, to prove you're worthy for CERN... :D )

Finally, the pictures are here...

OK, I could try to pretend that I lost my camera last week or an ice bear ate it, but the truth is that I just didn't make this post before today... It is busy days at school now, with courseworks in Chartering, Financial Derivatives and Shipping Innovation. In addition we have an exam in Shipping Risk Management, and we have to start preparing our dissertation. Robert, Leif and myself plan to write it together, if God (read: Grammenos, the course Godfather) will. We MIGHT write a dissertation about financing structures for FPSOs, but it may or may not be the case a week from now.
Back to May 17th. The day was a bit rainy, but Leif and Beate gave us a brilliant start with the delicious breakfast. After completing the meal with champagne and strawberries we moved on to Southwark Park, where the Seamen's Church arrangement took place. Kristin Halvorsen, the Norwegian Minister of Finance, held a speech. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't very good. First of all she had a cold or something. Second, a nasal voice combined with harks isn't very pretty. We then moved on to Covent Garden, or more precise the place "Punch & Judy's". This has been the place for celebrating Norwegians for MANY years, and we had a really good time there. When the Champions League Final were approaching we moved on to Henry J. Beans, a pub on Kings Road. The place was packed with Norwegians, and it was quite fun that some of the "foreigners" in our class also showed up. Nice!
After a good time at this pub everyone moved on to Boutique 60, except from ME, I went to Norway the morning after, and was pretty keen on not losing my flight. (and I think I would have, had I continued the party...) Anyway, here's the pictures!


Six men in their best age!


The breakfast table 1/3


The breakfast table 2/3


The breakfast table 3/3


Leif had brought with him a "whistle", and Robert fell in love with it at once...


Blow, Robert, blow!


Knut, the responsible one, figured out it was time to get CLASSY


Knut, Robert, Harald and Thomas outside Leif & Beate's apartment


Harald as Cobra, the only things missing are a motorcycle and Brigitte Nielsen


Therese, Michael, Bjørn Andreas (B.A.), Henrik (nearest to the camera), Robert (standing up) and Petter (sitting) All are enjoying park life, under a huge oak.


It's not May 17th without ice cream. A lot of ice cream...


The previously mentioned Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen, trying to shed light on a rainy day. We were not impressed, but nice that she could make it!


Petter gives the words "sleazy flowerboy" a new meaning (I'm not sure what the old meaning was)


Finally we get som beers at Punch & Judy's, Beate to the left, Leif unable to prevent his funnyface


Celebration time!


Balloons in red, white and blue, "Gratulerer med dagen" and a happy cameraspotting Knut in the centre


Leif trying to be important. Well, you can stop it. We all know you're just holding the TV remote control... Harald happy as always


Robert is exhausted trying to keep up appearences, and drops his guard; thus revealing his normal face.


Find one error in this picture. No? OK, then: Why am I happy if my beer is empty? (probably a new one on the table)


Leif finally understands he's not holding a water pipe


A picture speaks a thousand words...


This is a really funny picture! All the Norwegians celebrating and singing, while all the tourists are watching from above, taking pictures. Picture title: Don't feed the Norwegians! We really are in a zoo down there...


Morten Bakke, a previous Cass shipping student. He has celebrated May 17th 9 times in London, and was the lead singer of "Ja, vi elsker". You can see his mother in the lower left corner of the picture.


All in all we had a nice day! This Monday, before I went back to London, I had a small meeting with my new boss. I will start in my new job during the summer, and I will get an office where I can sit and write my dissertation. Great!

May 17th

Sorry for the lousy updates! I'm in Haugesund this weekend, but I promise to post pictures from the celebration when I return on Monday. Have a nice weekend!

Decision time!

I have finally decided where I will be working after my Master. The place is:



in Haugesund, where I in the beginning will have a portfolio of shipping clients which I will provide all the financial services they need such as granting loans, risk management etc. I really look forward to starting in the job, and the reasons are many:

I will return to Elisabeth and stop living in paperboard boxes and suitcases

Finally I can see my friends and family on a more regular basis...

I will finally be able to use the skills I have obtained through my education

I will be able to work with SHIPPING

Our beautiful house on Risøy will finally get the attention it deserves!

Today Harald, Knut and myself will take a trip up to Angel to drink coffee. After that I will have a look at some of the subjects we have this semester. I feel like I'm getting a cold, and I don't want to make it worse by going out drinking today. Not more than one pint, at least. Or two... Have a nice weekend, all!

Looks like I'm going to Haugesund

The question now is: Should I accept SR-Bank's or Nordea's offer? I think this must be the ultimate luxury question... I am a lucky person, that's for sure! Well, the prodigal son will return to Haugesund once again..

Weekend back home

I was home this weekend, and it was hectic as always... The second I landed on Norwegian soil I went to an interview at SR Bank in Haugesund. It went very well! Saturday was a bit more relaxing, with a couple of beers at Glenn's place. On Sunday we celebrated Silje's confirmation. It was a successful event, nice speeches, nice songs (the pink song, everybody!) and of course enormous amounts of food. Just what I need...
Today, Monday, I went to another interview at Nordea, Haugesund. It was... interesting... Always a bit terrifying with four persons "interrogating" you, but I think it went OK.



Oh, by the way..

I was also offered the job at SR Bank today :D

Last exam in my life (?)

As I haven't written on this page for a month or so, I will recap the last month:

Going home...
I went back to Haugesund for Easter after the final lecture. The original plan was that Elisabeth would arrive here the weekend before Easter, and we could have a weekend together in London before relaxing back home. As I was getting a bit fed up with the confined pigeon hole some might call a room here at Francis Rowley Court, along with wanting to see Elisabeth of course, I went back home ten days before Elisabeth would travel here to stay with me. That created a challenge. Who would Elisabeth go to visit? As the frequent flyer I am, I travelled with her.

Weekend in London
As Francis Rowley Court best can be described as a two star hotel (without room service), I was secretly toying with the idea to book a hotel room. However, Leif and Beates return to Bergen (and Porsgrunn) for Easter gave me another idea... I mean, it would be terrible of me to let their poor little apartment in Featherstone Street spend the weekend all by itself, now wouldn't it? When I close my eyes I can still picture Elisabeth's surprised face when I unlocked the front door there... :D We had a very nice weekend, watching Chicago and Ice Age II (Musical and cinema, respectively). At daytime, I read and she tried to find the ONE shop in Oxford street she still hadn't been to. After being absolutely certain our luggage was way too heavy not to cost us a small fortune, we checked in with 5 kilos to spare...

Easter in Haugesund
The best time of year to read a book is at Easter. I love crime novels, so sitting and reading about Shipping Finance Credit Analysis and International Commodity Trade was not that great. On Friday 14th we drove to Vågslid and visited Elisabeth's familiy in their amazing lodge. In fact, let's just call it the house. After a week with fantastic food I went back to read, read and maybe read a bit in the end.

Reading time
In only 6 days, Leif, Harald, Knut, Robert and myself increased our knowledge about various topics like Financial Markets (Swaps, Bonds, Futures, Forwards, Options etc.), International Commodity Trade (Tradeflows, supply/demand determinants and taxonomy of major commodity groups like Iron ore, copper, aluminium, grains, sugar, coffee, cocoa, rubber, oil and gas) and Corporate Finance (IPOs, WACC, DCF, APV, NAV and other funny letter combinations).

Hell week
Last week we had exams on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Pretty exhausting, but I think we all did a pretty good job. Of course I can only speak for myself, but it appears to me that the others are quite happy with their performances as well. After the exam on Friday we blowed some steam and had a couple of beers and Gin Tonics. It is always a great feeling to just relax after several exams, not feeling guilty for not reading.

The final one
It is now Monday, May 1st. As millions of people have demonstrated in London about free beer and a longer Premiership season (or maybe not) we are preparing for our last and final exam this semester. Next term consists of five small subjects, of which some may be concluded with small tests. Of the major exams though, the one we have on Wednesday may possibly be the last. Ever. I think the last four years as a student has been great, but I sincerely look forward to starting a working career. I have heard a lot of people saying that they miss the student years. I'm sure I will sometimes, but I suppose that will be due to the human defence mechanism to always remember the good days. And it has been many!
I think this exam will be the most demanding I have ever had, and it counts for 1/9 of my entire Master's Degree. I hope we all will be able to put in a good effort and feel we did our best.